Webwatch Article
July 26, 2004
http://brandchannel.com/features_webwatch.asp?ww_id=186

Burberry — pretty in plaid

By launching its first logo in 1900 and registering the signature check pattern as a trademark in 1920, Burberry showed the world early on that it understood the principles of brand building and equity.

Earning the royal seal of approval and outfitting the Royal Army placed Burberry on the map as "the original British luxury brand" but somewhere along the line, it became the fuddy-duddy raincoat brand known more for outfitting stuffy elder statesmen than the cloth of choice for the glamorous rich and famous.

When CEO Rosemary Bravo took the reins in the 1990s, Burberry revamped its brand image, hiring new designers who took the signature plaid from raincoats to bikinis. Recent ads featuring British fashion icons like Kate Moss and Stella Tennant embody the essence of the new Burberry, depicting a modern edginess merged with a classic British elitism. These ads brought along a Burberry status revival that also helped raise the brand's street cred, placing its newly expanded product line on the backs of consumers from Harlem to Hong Kong. The benefits of this brand reinvention are reflected in the numbers, and today, the Burberry brand is more successful than ever. We visited Burberry.com to see if the site blends the upscale luxury heritage with its edgy nouveau riche vibe.

Even down to its structure, Burberry.com is an amalgamation of the old and the new, a fusion of traditional logo and architecture with a modern flair, demonstrated with the use of fading graphics and streaming fashion shows. A Flash introduction page decorated with the signature Burberry plaid fades into a home page featuring a slide show of the aforementioned ad campaign. Black and white fashion photography-as-art images of Moss and crew looking glamorous in various genteel social scenarios are encased with a painted floral border – more old meets new British symbolism.

With a fashion website, it is of ultimate importance to provide the user with the best possible view of the goods. Burberry.com does a fair job of this by offering streaming video of its most recent runway shows, placing users directly in front of the catwalk. Visitors are invited to view the latest show from the home page but the Features section collects all the shows along with press releases about new store locations.

Considering that the site lacks any direct purchasing function, it's a wise move to give prominent placement to purchasing information. Burberry.com has a store locator function easily visible, right on the top navigation bar. A truly global brand, users can select their ideal shopping location via a pull-down menu or by clicking on the map icon.

Commendable sections include the History page, which features an animated pictorial timeline with a traditional feel, taking the visitor through the evolution of the brand, year by year. Investors is well populated with numbers, providing detailed financial information about the brand including spreadsheets of share data, a detailed corporate profile, results and actual presentations. Fool proof, detailed instructions are provided with the search function, which works really well.

Burberry's foray into the fragrance business is honored with its own product page. Considering the web is not yet the forum to scratch and sniff, the vibe of each fragrance is portrayed with photos of the products interspersed with image from each line's campaign, which are meant to convey a range of emotions. Perhaps a paragraph describing each fragrance would beef this section up a little.

Seeing as the site lacks an e-tailing function, providing users with deeper information about the clothing line, even if just by featuring a few season's highlighted products or mainstay signature staples, may help familiarize users with Burberry's newest offerings. Also, a customized raincoat function could work nicely in conjunction with the history page, offering respect to the brand's legacy while making the classic product more desirable and accessible.

Like the rainwear Burberry became famous for, Burberry.com is classically functional. What it lacks in flashy bells and whistles (and in some areas substance), it has in class and quality construction. Integrating the brand's signature plaid into the backbone of the site design pays homage to Burberry's legacy while showing the world how new ideas and an injection of glam can help "the original British luxury brand" reach a whole new target. All in all, this site is a class act.

Vivian Manning-Schaffel is a freelance writer who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

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